Diane C. Lincir - Page 17




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          of the Court and “petitioner chose to forego such opportunities             
          [to move the Court to reopen the record before decision was                 
          entered in the 1989 case], and should not be allowed to set aside           
          her decision well after the fact”; (2) although section 6015 as             
          enacted by the 1998 Act provided for administrative remedies,               
          “nothing in section 6015 indicates that this was intended to be             
          the sole means to raise section 6015”; (3) res judicata effects             
          cannot be avoided “simply because a section 6015 claim was not              
          economically worth her while prior to the Commissioner                      
          promulgating his proposed regulations under the allocation                  
          rules”; and (4) petitioner’s interpretation of the 2-year                   
          election rule would make section 6015(g)(2) into “irrational                
          surplusage”, because under that interpretation the res judicata             
          rule could always be avoided.                                               
               The parties dispute the significance of our opinions in                
          Noons v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2004-243, and Butler v.                   
          Commissioner, 114 T.C. 276 (2000).  Petitioner states:  “this               
          court may wish to consider whether Noons (like Butler) is                   
          correctly decided.”                                                         
               We agree with respondent’s conclusion that petitioner is not           
          entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.                            
          V.  Conclusions                                                             
               The Congress chose to provide a statutory rule as to res               
          judicata in section 6015(e)(3)(B) (under the 1998 Act) and then             







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